Introducing opponents: Sion (Switzerland)

On 7 July, at 20:00, the Pitmen will face Sion in Switzerland. The match will take place in the Valais Cup. Let’s get acquainted you with the Pitmen’s opponents.

The club was founded in 1909. Sion was very popular with locals. Largely because of their financial contributions the team advanced to a professional level. In 1932, the club played in the fourth division of the country. Sion reached the Swiss Super League only in 1957. At the turn of the century, it suffered from the financial crisis and almost ceased to exist. In 2003, the club found a second life, but played in the second division.

Sion is considered to be the Cup team. A month ago, in the final of this competition, Sion defeated Basel 3:0 to win the Swiss Cup on 13th occasion. In addition, a team from the same city twice became champion: in seasons -1991/92 and 1996/97. The past season saw FC Sion finish in seventh place.

Sion plays its home matches at the stadium called Stade de Tourbillon, which holds 16,500 seats, the head coach is Frenchman Didier Tolo.

It is noteworthy that in July last year the Pitmen already faced the team in the Valais Cup. At the stage of the first round, Mircea Lucescu’s charges beat Sion 1:0. The winning goal was scored by Oleksandr Hladkyi. And after a couple of days, the Pitmen played another match with the Swiss team - this time the Donetsk team lost 1-2 in the final minutes. It should be noted that the Ukrainian forward again scored for the Pitmen.